DOJ Drops Charges In $722M 'BitClub' Crypto Ponzi Case

By Matthew Santoni

The U.S. Department of Justice and federal prosecutors in New Jersey have dropped their case against Matthew Goettsche, who was formerly accused of originating a $722 million cryptocurrency fraud scheme for which several of his alleged co-conspirators have already pled guilty.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NJ Nursing Home On Hook For Hypothermia Death Verdict

By Y. Peter Kang

A New Jersey appellate panel on Tuesday affirmed a $450,000 jury verdict against a nursing home accused of negligently keeping a resident's room like an "icebox," which caused her death from hypothermia, saying the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

UPPAbaby Beats Suit Over Infant Car Seat Defect Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

Baby equipment maker UPPAbaby has for the time being avoided a grandmother's proposed class action claiming its infant car seats are dangerously defective, after a New Jersey federal judge dismissed her claims as unsupported "assumptions."

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Montgomery McCracken Must Face Suit Over NJ College Move

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey state judge on Tuesday declined to dismiss Rider University's lawsuit alleging Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads LLP's negligence caused it to forfeit a property worth $42 million, ruling from the bench that the school adequately alleged it relied on guidance from one of its attorneys.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AT&T Whistleblower Told To Cut Facts From Ethics Case Filing

By Sue Reisinger

Former AT&T in-house counsel and whistleblower Theodore Marcus has been asked to delete part of his response to professional misconduct charges pending against him in Washington, D.C., because the filing allegedly contains privileged information.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Troutman Amin Accused Of Overbilling, Fraud Over TCPA Row

By Ryan Boysen

A New Jersey solar panel company claims Troutman Amin LLP — which bills itself as the foremost telemarketing defense firm in the country — charged $200,000 to fight a case that could have been settled for $80,000.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge Pares Suit Challenging Empire Wind Project

By Keith Goldberg

A D.C. federal judge has trimmed a lawsuit contesting federal approvals for a wind farm off the New York and New Jersey coasts while preserving claims that the government wrongly allowed the project to harm migratory bottlenose dolphin populations.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Teva Can't 'Literally Whine' Of Being Held To DOJ Admissions

By Bryan Koenig

A Pennsylvania federal judge has taken Teva to task for trying to avoid being held to its admissions of price-fixing in a $225 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, ruling that Humana can use those admissions in one of the first bellwether trials in sprawling multidistrict litigation.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

3rd Circ. Upholds Alecto Health's Small-Biz Ch. 11 Plan

By Emlyn Cameron

The Third Circuit affirmed Tuesday that hospital owner Alecto Healthcare Services' streamlined Chapter 11 and the resulting plan confirmation withstood an appeal by a creditors' group.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trader In BigLaw Deal-Tipping Scheme To Plead Guilty

By Chris Villani

A Florida resident is set to plead guilty to his alleged role in a sweeping scheme to trade on insider information about impending acquisitions that was stolen from major law firms, according to a court filing Tuesday.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Simpson Thacher Stock Work Hurt 2 Companies, Jury Told

By Madison Arnold

The chief financial officer for an insurance company told a Florida jury Tuesday that a stock drop for Patriot National Inc. — which is suing Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP for malpractice for allegedly putting together a shoddy securities offering — dramatically affected his own business as well.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

1st Circ. Asked To Save Mayer Brown $21M Fee Bid In RI Suit

By Linda Chiem

The American Trucking Associations told the First Circuit that its attorneys at Mayer Brown LLP reasonably justified their request for $21 million in fees and costs after securing "substantial" wins in long-running litigation over Rhode Island's truck tolling program, disputing a district court's determination that the trucking trade group wasn't actually a "prevailing party."

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Winston Taylor Seeks Sanction Against Ex-Client Hunter Biden

By Rae Ann Varona

Winston Taylor urged a D.C. state court on Monday to sanction its former client Hunter Biden in its legal bills collection suit, saying the former president's son destroyed Signal communications that would have proved he understood that he owes the law firm more than $50,000.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Court Is In Session Whenever A Judge Says It Is, 6th Circ. Told

By Susan Smiley

Court is wherever and whenever a judge says it is, counsel for a Detroit judge told a Sixth Circuit panel Tuesday, arguing that subjecting a student to a mock arrest and trial because she fell asleep during a field trip was within his jurisdiction.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Senate Confirms Jay Clayton As National Intelligence Chief

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, two weeks after Clayton, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, refused to answer who he thought won the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Queens Defenders Head Gets 3.5 Years For Looting The Nonprofit

By Pete Brush

A Brooklyn federal judge on Tuesday sentenced the former director of the Queens Defenders to more than 3.5 years in prison after the longtime attorney admitted to a course of embezzlement that destroyed the group dedicated to legal services for the poor.

5 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »